However, even though many business leaders express security concerns about allowing employees to store proprietary company and customer information on their personal devices, BYOD programs don’t have to be complicated. Mobile application management (MAM) solutions can provide executives with peace of mind regarding security concerns while ensuring that personal and enterprise mobile apps and data are properly segregated and protected.

Mobile application management helps organizations deliver critical applications to employees while letting them use the device(s) of their choice. MAM solutions enable companies to manage and secure their enterprise mobility efforts from end-to-end. Because employees often download games, movies, music, and other personal apps which may contain malware, Trojans, or viruses, MAM can help companies regularly and automatically inspect devices for mobile application security compromises before taking appropriate actions.

When employees bring their own smartphones, tablets, and laptops to the workplace, companies can reduce their hardware costs by not having to supply or maintain these devices. According to a recent study by CIOInsight, companies where employees bring their own devices to work save an average of $1,000 per year per employee in service costs alone.

Even though companies may enforce less stringent security policies for BYOD devices than for corporate-issues devices, organizations still should ask employees to abide by acceptable use provisions for securing corporate data and assets. For instance, this could include requirements to install company-issued security or antivirus software before downloading any enterprise mobile apps. Companies may also want to consider asking employees to abide by remote working rules to help protect corporate data from cyber thieves in public Wi-Fi locations as well as having employees abide by incident response guidelines should they encounter a security threat.

BYOD programs that are well-managed through mobile application management can generate impressive productivity gains. Case in point: Intel, which had 23,500 devices which supported 41 mobile apps in its BYOD program at the end of last year, generated 5 million hours worth of productivity gains last year, or roughly 57 minutes per employee workday, according to Computerworld. The types of applications used by Intel in its BYOD program are fairly simple. These include instant messaging systems as well as tools that provide employees access to internal information or to access and approve purchasing requests.